Piranesi, I think it took me a long time to figure out what gender they were. Not a critical point of the character either.
VampireZombieHunter on
Lock In by John Scalzi
jump-back-like-33 on
Murderbot is never explicitly stated as male or female and readers are roughly 50/50 on what they imagine.
JellyAdventurous5699 on
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Sci-Fi)
(Ed: Murderbot was also mentioned and is also a good fit – also sci-fi)
de_pizan23 on
Lock In and the Kaiju Preservation Society, both by John Scalzi, gender and pronouns are never given for either MC
Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie – SF where the central empire uses only female pronouns, the lead is a sentient AI and doesn’t quite get gender/pronouns when they go to other empires
Hilary Tamar series by Sarah Caudwell – the gender of the Hilary is never given
novel-opinions on
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (and the sequel, but it’s the same MCs)
EstablishmentLow278 on
Murderbot diaries!!! Murderbot is genderless. Honestly would recommend it regardless, it’s great.
You might want to check out _she who became the sun_ as well, although I found the story kinda meh. It does fit the description though.
SpendAdventurous1723 on
*Sphinx* by Anne Garréta is exactly what you are looking for. It is a French novel (the English translation by Emma Ramadan is incredible) written with a strict “Oulipian” constraint: the gender of neither the narrator nor their lover (A*) is ever revealed.
The author intentionally avoided every gendered pronoun and linguistic marker in the book. The result is a beautiful, moody story about a romance in the Latin Quarter of Paris and New York City night clubs where you are forced to engage with the characters’ emotions and silhouettes rather than their biological sex.
Writing_Bookworm on
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
applejacklover97 on
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg is extremely gendery
lbsslbss on
Orlando, by Virginia Woolf.
batmanpjpants on
Pew by Catherine Lacey
amorouslight on
I haven’t read it yet (it’s on my TBR!) but I’m fairly certain *The Iliac Crest* by Cristina Rivera Garza has a gender-ambiguous main character and that their gender is a focal point of the book
ScormCurious on
Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars has a great trans character as one of the two MCs, and some aliens who are nearly MCs who I would say have chosen genders for their Earth expression but may be genderless.
sassst3phhhh on
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin. all of the characters are gender ambiguous except for the narrator
Ok_Stranger176 on
Written on the body by Jeanette Winterson
Pretty_Fairy_Queen on
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Separate-Grocery-815 on
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo (starting with *The Empress of Salt and Fortune*) fits this. The main character is a cleric in an order that gives up gendered pronouns (and perhaps gendered presentation. I forget).
And though it wasn’t for me, *What Moves the Dead* by T. Kingfisher could fit as well. The soldiers in this world have their own unique pronouns that aren’t gendered.
ExchangeStandard6957 on
Salvagia by Tim Chawaga. It’s totally unclear
EnvironmentalOkra529 on
The Sworn Soldier series by T. Kingfisher. The Narrator is a soldier, and soldiers have their own gender (neither male or female). The books are What Moves the Dead, What Feasts at Night, and What Stalks the Deep
blueeelgrey on
Every Day by David Levithan has a protagonist who wakes up in a new body every day. It discusses the role gender plays in a relationship. It’s YA but as someone who is nonbinary I really enjoyed the representation
21 Comments
Piranesi, I think it took me a long time to figure out what gender they were. Not a critical point of the character either.
Lock In by John Scalzi
Murderbot is never explicitly stated as male or female and readers are roughly 50/50 on what they imagine.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Sci-Fi)
(Ed: Murderbot was also mentioned and is also a good fit – also sci-fi)
Lock In and the Kaiju Preservation Society, both by John Scalzi, gender and pronouns are never given for either MC
Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie – SF where the central empire uses only female pronouns, the lead is a sentient AI and doesn’t quite get gender/pronouns when they go to other empires
Hilary Tamar series by Sarah Caudwell – the gender of the Hilary is never given
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (and the sequel, but it’s the same MCs)
Murderbot diaries!!! Murderbot is genderless. Honestly would recommend it regardless, it’s great.
You might want to check out _she who became the sun_ as well, although I found the story kinda meh. It does fit the description though.
*Sphinx* by Anne Garréta is exactly what you are looking for. It is a French novel (the English translation by Emma Ramadan is incredible) written with a strict “Oulipian” constraint: the gender of neither the narrator nor their lover (A*) is ever revealed.
The author intentionally avoided every gendered pronoun and linguistic marker in the book. The result is a beautiful, moody story about a romance in the Latin Quarter of Paris and New York City night clubs where you are forced to engage with the characters’ emotions and silhouettes rather than their biological sex.
Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg is extremely gendery
Orlando, by Virginia Woolf.
Pew by Catherine Lacey
I haven’t read it yet (it’s on my TBR!) but I’m fairly certain *The Iliac Crest* by Cristina Rivera Garza has a gender-ambiguous main character and that their gender is a focal point of the book
Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars has a great trans character as one of the two MCs, and some aliens who are nearly MCs who I would say have chosen genders for their Earth expression but may be genderless.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin. all of the characters are gender ambiguous except for the narrator
Written on the body by Jeanette Winterson
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Singing Hills Cycle by Nghi Vo (starting with *The Empress of Salt and Fortune*) fits this. The main character is a cleric in an order that gives up gendered pronouns (and perhaps gendered presentation. I forget).
And though it wasn’t for me, *What Moves the Dead* by T. Kingfisher could fit as well. The soldiers in this world have their own unique pronouns that aren’t gendered.
Salvagia by Tim Chawaga. It’s totally unclear
The Sworn Soldier series by T. Kingfisher. The Narrator is a soldier, and soldiers have their own gender (neither male or female). The books are What Moves the Dead, What Feasts at Night, and What Stalks the Deep
Every Day by David Levithan has a protagonist who wakes up in a new body every day. It discusses the role gender plays in a relationship. It’s YA but as someone who is nonbinary I really enjoyed the representation